Masai Mara

Last Friday, Larry and I were picked up at the house at 7 a.m. by a tour guide and we started our journey to Masai Mara.  Masai Mara is in the south west portion of Kenya, on the border of Tanzania.  It was a very long drive with about 4 hours on assault roads and then another 2.5 on the roughest road I have ever been on.  As we entered Masai Mara is a huge area that is set aside for the Masai people and is a large reserve for animals.  On our way to the resort that we were staying at we saw elephants and antelope in the distance.  We pulled up to the fancy gates of Mara Sopa Lodge and were greeted by very friendly people.  This was the nicest resort (only resort) that I have been to, so I wasn’t used to people carrying my bags for me and offering me drink right at the door.  We had some time to settle in to the hut that we were to call home for the next couple days before we headed out for our first game drive.  Everything that comes after this is hard to put into words.  You had to be there to get the full experience, but hopefully the pictures do it some justice.    The vehicle that we took was one of the ones that have the roof that pops up so that you can stand and see in all directions.  The first animals that we saw on that evening game drive were a group of elephants.  They are very powerful animals and it was very interesting watching them demolish this small tree that they were eating from.  We saw many animals that evening in just a short period of time.  We saw zebras, giraffes, dik-diks, water buffalo, wildebeest, other kinds of antelope, and a momma lion with two cubs.  It was also a very beautiful night and we were able to watch the sunset over the safari.    We  got back to the lodge to enjoy a nature talk about the mara and a dance that was put on by the Masai tribe that was just down the road.  After, we enjoyed a very nice meal and then hung out the rest of the night.  The next morning we had to wake up fairly early because we had to leave the lodge at 6:45.  At breakfast, Larry had already put his plate of fruit at the table and went to get more food but when we got back to the table a monkey and snuck in and was sitting at the table eating all of the fruit.  After breakfast we headed out for our all day safari.  It was one of the best experiences of my life!!!  I honestly can’t even begin to describe what we saw that day.  We saw at least 100,000 zebras and over 100,ooo wildebeest.  I had never seen so many animals in my life.  There were fields that had thousands of animals in them.  In the morning we came across a group of lions that were feeding on a wildebeest.  Larry was wearing my safari hat and when he stood up it blew out of the vehicle right in the middle of the group of lions.  The lions started playing with it like it was a game.  I may have lost my hat but it was worth it to see the lions playing like that.  Throughout the day we saw hippos in the river, a groups of cheetahs hunting wildebeest, a leopard, hyenas feeding on carcasses, four groups of lions, antelope, tons of elephants, some giraffes, and all of those zebras and wildebeest in their natural habitat.  It was one of the most fun days of my life!  We did come a couple week too early and missed the great migration.  During the great migration from Tanzania to Kenya there are so many animals that come over that you cannot see any of the grass.  That would have been amazing to see but we still saw so many animals.  It is crazy how large the mara actually is.  We drove around for 7 hours and only saw a small portion of the mara.  On our way back to the lodge we stopped by the Masai village to see how they live.  They were more than happy to show us around their very small village and show us how they live.  We learned about there culture, saw how they built their huts, learned how to start a fire without a match, and got to spend some time inside their huts.  We even visited the medicine man and saw how they make all of their medicines from the roots of trees.  We were even daring enough to try a little bit of the medicine… that was not a very smart idea, as it acted as a laxative that made it very uncomfortable that night and the next day.  We got back to the lodge and went for a swim and relaxed the rest of the night.  We loaded the van at 8 the next morning and started the long journey home.  Hopefully the pictures can give you sort of an idea of this amazing experience but they definitely don’t do it justice.  I would recommend to anyone going to Kenya to visit Masai Mara.

Photo credits go to Larry!

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